Nandwa urges Harambee Stars to feed off underdog status to lift CHAN title

Harambee Stars will be making their debut in CHAN, and Nandwa is backing Kenya ‘to shake the demons’ on home soil following previous continental heartaches that has seen the national side fail to advance from group stages in the six Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) outings.

“I want to request that it doesn’t matter whoever we play in our opening match, let's fight for a point if it will be hard to win.

“I am confident that this team will do well because we have good players. Let’s not fear our opponents and let’s not look at their names but first let’s embrace that underdog tag. It will help us play with zero pressure,” said.

“We have that home advantage. What the head coach should polish is our front line. We have to be clinical in front of goal to have any chance of progressing.”

The Benni McCarthy-coached Stars are in Group A alongside heavyweights Morocco, Angola, DR Congo and Zambia in what is seen by many as the ‘group of death.’

Kenya will begin the month-long event, which is tailor-made for national local based players, against DR Congo on August 3 at Kasarani.

Nandwa however faulted Football Kenya Federation (FKF) for withdrawing the team from the Cecafa Four Nations tournament just hours before the competition was scheduled to kick off at Karatu Stadium in Arusha.

“It would have been so helpful in giving the team a wakeup call. It’s a missed opportunity for our boys. I urge the technical director Francis Kimanzi and all the local coaches to fully support McCarthy in ensuring we succeed,” he said.

“We needed at least one friendly match before the tournament kick-off to fine tune our preparations and I still believe there is time to organize one.”

Harambee Stars will play Angola in the second fixture on August 7 from 7:00pm at Kasarani Stadium.

The Kenyans will then lock horns with former champions Morocco on August 10 - a match that will kick-off at 3:00pm.

The last group stage fixture will see Harambee Stars battle Zambia on August 17 starting 3:00pm, hoping to finish among the best two and progress into the knockouts.